Air bags for pressing machines



Nov. 25, 1969 F. H. BONN AIR BAGS FOR PRESSING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 28. 1968 1 ejz for C155 7f fiwzzz/ Nov. 25, 1969 F. H. BONN AIR BAGS FOR PRESSING MACHINES Filed March 28, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 flZ/efi 501' Hjozzza 3,480,187 AIR BAGS FOR PRESSIN G MACHINES Francis H. Bonn, 3215 NE. 15th St., Apt. 3, Pompano Beach, Fla. 33062 Filed Mar. 28, 1968, Ser. No. 716,946 Int. Cl. A41h /02; A47j 51/086 US. Cl. 223-67 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in garment pressing machines, and particularly to improvements in the flexible, inflatable bags conventionally used in such equipment. The main purpose of this improvement is to prevent complete collapse of the bags while they are deflated, thus preventing substantial wrinkling of the inflatable portion of the bag wall. I have discovered that the previously encountered wrinkling of the inflatable portion of the bag wall was a major cause of wear in the bag wall leading to shortened life of the inflatable bag. Moreover, I have discovered that the previously encountered trapped wrinkles in the bag were one of the causes of rough dry which was observed in garments when the bag was not properly inflated within the garment during the pressing operation. As will be apparent from the description hereinafter, this invention contemplates the addition of a coil spring into the space within the inflatable bag. The spring which is provided in accordance with this invention is structurally independent of the inflatable wall portion of the bag, and hence forms no part of the wall of the bag. Consequently, when the bag is inflated the spring interferes in no way with the movement of the wall of the bag thus permitting the generation of pressure by the bag Wall against the fabric being pressed. However, when the bag is deflated the inflatable portion of the bag wall collapses against the lateral surfaces of the coil spring thus preventing complete collapse of the bag wall.

When using yoke bags heretofore available, for example, complete collapse of the bag was encountered as a result of dressing the buck, particularly when the operator had a tendency to rest her hand on the shoulder portion of the buck, or had a tendency to smooth the shoulders of the garment by hand after the buck was dressed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention a coil spring is placed within the expandable inflatable bag such as the yoke bag on a garment pressing machine. The presence of the coil spring within the yoke bag prevents the complete collapse of the yoke bag while the buck is being dressed. Moreover, if the operator subjects the shoulder portion of the yoke bag to pressure while dressing the buck, the lateral compressability of the coil spring and flexibility of the coil spring permits the wall of the yoke bag to yield under the pressure, and immediately upon release of the pressure causes the wall of the yoke bag to return to its proper substantially wrinkle-free condition.

' United States Patent O l 3,480,187 Patented Nov. 25, 1969 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the type of equipment in which the improvement of this invention is used;

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line II-II of FIGURE 1. FIGURE 2 shows the coil spring of this invention in place;

FIGURE 3 is also a cross sectional view taken on the line IIII of FIGURE 1, except that the coil spring of this invention is not present within the yoke bag;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic rear elevational view showing the location of the coil spring within the yoke bag;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary schematic view of a coil spring which is covered by a separate perforated cloth cover;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional front view illustrating an alternative embodiment of this invention.

The garment pressing machine illustrated in FIGURE 1 is of the type widely used in the laundering industry. It is referred to as a cabinet bosom-body-yoke press. It is used to press mens shirts, principally, and consists of a dressing section 10 and a cabinet section 11. The illustrated apparatus is specifically referred to as a double buck press insofar as two bucks 12, 13 are used. The buck 13 is shown dressed with a shirt. In the position illustrated the buck 13 is in the process of moving into the cabinet prior to the actual pressing step, which takes place within the cabinet. The buck 12 has just returned from the cabinet and is in position for dressing. Attached to the cover of the buck 12 are side bags 15 and 15' and the yoke bag 16. These cloth bags are inflatable. The side bags 15, 15' are hermetically joined to tubes 17 and 17' through which a gas under substantial positive pressure can be supplied to the bag. The side bags are also supported by moveable arms 50 and springs 51.

The yoke bag 16 is fitted with an attachment 18, commonly referred to in the trade as a snorkle. The snorkle attaches to an air supply hose inside of the cabinet (not shown) and provides the conduit through which gas under substantial pressure is conveyed into the yoke bag 16. When the buck is dressed with a shirt the garment is held in place with clamps at 19 and 19', and gas under substantial positive pressure is introduced through hoses 17, 17'. This causes inflation of the bag 15, 15 which are now inside of the body of the garment as illustrated at buck 13. The inflation of the bags 15, 15' in this manner causes the front and back of the garment to be stretched laterally. After the buck has been conveyed inside of the cabinet and the snorkle 18 coupled to the air supply hose (not shown) the yoke bag 16 is also inflated thus causing the shoulder and yoke of the shirt to be tightened. The gas conventionally used in the bags 15, 15' and 16, is hot air. The bags 15, 15' and 16 are porous enough, however, to permit escape of a substantial quantity of the hot air through the fabric which constitutes the wall of the bag. The escaping hot air dries the tightly stretched material thus causing the press in the areas which are properly stretched. In FIGURE 2 the outermost layer 20 of the buck apparatus is shown covered by a cover 21 to which is attached the yoke bag 16 by means of stitching at 22. Hence, a portion 37 of the yoke bag is i'rnmovably attached to the buck. Inside the yoke bag the coil spring 23 supports the upper inflatable, i.e. movable wall 37' of the yoke bag 16 and prevents its collapse. As illustrated in FIGURE 2, the coil spring 23 is preferably covered by a cloth sleeve 24. It is apparent from the view of FIG- URE 2 that two substantial conduits are thus provided within the yoke bag. One conduit 25 is provided around the exterior of the spring, and the other conduit 26 is the interior of the helix of the coil spring. It is to be noted that the upper portion 37 of the yoke bag 16 is in no way attached to the coil spring 23 or to the protective sleeve 24 surrounding the coil spring. Hence, when a positive gas pressure is applied inside the bag, the movable wall 37 moves to its inflated condition, as illustrated by dotted line 16'.

In FIGURE 3 the yoke bag 16 is shown in a completely collapsed condition. The wrinkles appearing at 26 and 27 are typical of those encountered in yoke bags which do not contain the coil spring in accordance with this invention. The wrinkle 27 which droops down in front of the buck can be trapped by the pressure of the head clamp 28, which is one of the two heated plates 28, 28' brought to bear against the front and back, respectively, during the residence of the buck within the cabinet 11. Whenever the yoke bag 16 is trapped in this manner it is apparent that the introduction of the air into the channel 29 will not result in complete expansion of the bag in the region in which the trapped wrinkle occurs. This failure of the bag to expand properly within a portion of the yoke of the garment dressed thereon, tends to cause a condition known as rough dry in that portion of the garment. Naturally this condition is an undesirable one since that portion of the garment appears to be unpressed.

FIGURE 4 illustrates the position of the coil spring 23 within the yoke bag 16. As is apparent in FIGURE 4, the length of the coil spring 23 is somewhat shorter than the length of the yoke bag 16, and the relative narrow diameter of the coil spring is somewhat less than the diameter of the yoke bag 16. Also, I prefer that the spring 23 be tapered at the ends as shown at 23. The elevated portion 30 of the yoke bag 16 receives the snorkle 18 in the region indicated by the dotted lines 31. The coil spring 23 which is illustrated in FIGURE 4 is shown with a cover 24. I prefer to use such a cover insofar as it reduces wear on the inner surface of the yoke bag 16. However, the use of the cover is not essential.

In FIGURE 5 I have shown schematically a spring 23 partially enclosed within a cover 24 which contains perforations 32 in the central portion of the cover, i.e. that portion which is normally positioned near the snorkle. The presence of the perforations 32 facilitates the passage of the gas coming through the snorkle 18 at 31 into the interior 26 of the covered spring. Hence, the presence of the perforations 32 permits more eflicient utilization of the interior portion 26 of the spring for the purpose of conveying the incoming hot gas from the central portion of the yoke bag to the lateral extremes. The cover 24 is made of a heat resistant porous cloth, e.g. Dacron.

In FIGURE 6 an attachment of the cover 24 to the yoke bag 16 is illustrated. As shown in that figure, a terminal portion 34 of the bag 24 is stitched at 35 to an extended portion 36 of the bottom of the yoke bag. Thus the helical spring enclosed within the cover 24 is attached to that portion 37 of the yoke bag which normally does not undergo movement during the inflation and collapse of the bag insofar as the bottom portion 37 of the yoke bag is normally rigidly aflixed to the cover 21 of the buck. While the bottom immovable portion 37 of the yoke bag is shown attached to the cover 21 of the buck by means of stitching 22 in FIGURE 2, it can be attached to the cover by other means. Such as alternative means is illustrated in FIGURE 6, in which a tab 40 aflixed to the yoke bag is shown attached to the cover 21 by means of appropriate snap means 41. This alternative method of fastening the yoke bag to the cover of the buck permits removal of the yoke bag 16 from the buck cover 21. This illustration is shown because the use of such snaps is common practice in the industry. It has been common practice to use such snaps insofar as the wear and tear to which the yoke bag has been heretofore subjected required periodic replacement of the bags. Normally, two yoke bags were required during the life of a buck cover. Hence, the use of the snaps in FIGURE 6 is shown primarily to illustrate that an improved yoke bag of this invention can be used as a replacement bag as well as an integral part of a complete buck cover. It has been my experience that a new buck cover equipped with the improved yoke bag of this invention does not require replacement of the yoke bag during the life of the cover.

In a series of in-plant tests it was found that the improvement of this invention led to increased acceleration of yoke bag ballooning because substantial conduits for the transfer of hot gas to the extremes of the yoke bag were maintained. Upon application of gas pressure at the snorkle full ballooning of the yoke bag took place instantly. Moreover, the presence of the coil spring within the yoke bag, in accordance with this invention, corrected many operators errors in dressing shirts on the buck. Many operators have a tendency to brush their hand across the yoke or to pull down too tightly on the shirt tails. Lateral resilience of the coil spring permits depression of the bag but restores the bag wall 37' to proper position immediately. Insofar as the pressing operations employing the equipment to which this invention is related are high speed operations, e.g., shirts per hour, and insofar as the time period during which the yoke bag is inflated is a mere 12-15 seconds in most instances, the instantaneous expansion of the improved bag of this invention was found to be very advantageous.

In the same series of tests it was also found that the improved yoke bags of this invention had a useful life which was anywhere from 20 percent to 100 percent longer than the useful life of identical industrial yoke bags made with identical fabric, except that they did not contain the coil spring in accordance with this invention.

The yoke bags 16 are conventionally made with heavy Dacron fabric which has the desired air permeability and which is heat and wear resistant. Conventionally the side bags 15 are made with heavy nylon fabric, and the buck covers 21 are made with heavy 2 2-ply duck construction Dacron fabric resin reinforced for better resistance to heat and abrasion.

Though the term coil spring is used to describe the supporting structure 23 it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the term applies to structures conventionally referred by that name as well as to their equivalents.

What is claimed is:

1. In the combination of a shirt finishing buck having a cover and having an inflatable porous cloth air yoke bag attached to the outside of the buck cover, the bag having a Wall, said bag having a long dimension and a narrow dimension, the bag wall having a first and second portion thereof, the bag including means for securing said first portion of the bag wall to the outside of a buck cover, whereby said first portion is made fixed with respect to said buck cover, said second portion of the bag wall being movable, the improvement comprising: a coil spring within the bag, said spring having a long dimension and a narrow dimension, the long dimension being in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the helix of the coil, the narrow dimension being in the direction of the radius of the helix of the coil, the respective dimensions of the spring being smaller than the corresponding respective dimensions of the bag by an amount sufficient (a) for said movable wall portion to move to a position spaced-apart from said spring when the bag is in its inflated condition, and (b) for said movable wall portion to be supported by said spring in the absence of positive gas pressure applied inside the bag to permit only partial collapse of the movable wall portion of the bag in response to release of the positive gas pressure within the bag, said movable wall portion being free to move independently of said spring.

2. The improvement in claim 1, wherein the bag also contains means for attaching the coil spring to said first portion, thereby maintaining the coil spring in a fixed position within the air bag.

3. The improvement of claim 1, in which said coil spring is enclosed in a gas permeable cover made of heat resistant porous cloth, and said cover is affixed to said first portion of the bag wall.

4. The improvement of claim 3 in which the cover contains perforations in the region near the middle of the long dimension of the coil spring.

5. In a buck cover for a garment finishing bosom-bodyyoke press buck, said cover having an elongated porous yoke air bag aflixed to the outside thereof, said yoke bag having a portion of a wall thereof fixed to said buck cover, and having a movable wall portion and a snorkle tube for introduction of positive gas pressure within the bag, said yoke bag having a long dimension and a narrow dimension, the improvement comprising: a coil spring within the yoke bag, said coil spring having a long dimension and a narrow dimension, the long dimension being along the longitudinal axis of the helix of the coil spring, the narrow dimension being in the direction of the radius of the helix of the coil, the respective dimensions of the sprin gbeing smaller than the corresponding respective dimensions of the bag by an amount suficient (a) for said movable wall portion to move to a position spaced apart from said spring when the bag is in its inflated condition, and (b) for said movable wall portion to be supported by said spring in the absence of positive gas pressure within the bag, said movable wall portion being free to move independently of said spring.

6. The improvement in claim 5, wherein the bag also contains means for maintaining the coil spring in a fixed position within the air bag.

7. The improvement in claim 5, in which said coil spring is enclosed in a gas permeable spring cover made of heat resistant porous cloth and said spring cover is affixed to a portion of the bag which is fixed to said buck cover.

8. The improvement of claim 7, in which the cover contains perforations in the region near the middle of the long dimension of the coil spring.

9. In an air permeable inflatable bag adapted for use on an attachment to the outside of a garment finishing buck cover, the bag having a long dimension and a narrow dimension, and having a movable wall portion, the improvement comprising: support means for supporting the movable wall portion, said support means being positioned within the bag, said support means having a long dimension and a narrow dimension, the respective dimensions of the support means being smaller than the corresponding respective dimensions of the bag by an amount sufiicient (a) for said movable wall portion to move to a position spaced-apart from said support means when the bag is in its inflated condition, and (b) for said movable wall portion to be supported by said support means in the absence of positive gas pressure applied inside the bag to permit only partial collapse of the movable wall portion of the bag in response to release of positive gas pressure inside the bag, said movable wall portion being free to move independently of said support means, said support means being resilient in the direction of the narrow dimension, said support means forming conduit means for conveying gas from a central portion of the yoke bag to lateral extremes of the bag, whereby a portion of the gas passing into the bag at a central portion thereof may be conducted through the conduit means to the lateral extremes of the bag to pass through the walls of the bag when the bag is in its inflated condition.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,565,700 12/1925 Zilberstein 22367 2,720,347 10/ 1955 Jackson 22367 2,985,344- 5/ 1961 Quaintance 22367 2,743,854 5/1956 Strike 22357 2,788,162 4/ 1957 Hitz 223-57 2,854,177 9/1958 Strike et al. 22357 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner GEORGE V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 22385 

